- Me

November 27, 2001

Hey everyone. My surgery has been post-poned as I have a head cold and

Dr. March thought it would be safer to reschedule. No date set yet, will

keep everyone posted.

-- regarding your contractions during pregnancy -- I'm glad your

doctor says it's important to pay attention to them. I haven't caught

up with all my e-mails, so if I am repeating something you've already

been told, let me know.

I had 14 weeks of bed-rest with constant contractions (pre-term labor)

however THEY DON'T FEEL LIKE CONTRACTIONS. The first symptom I had was

feeling like I had indigestion. My understanding of Braxton Hicks is

that they come quite close to the end of term. I took indocin (until 28

weeks) and tributaline to keep the contractions at bay and was in and

out of the hospital on the occasions that the tributaline could not keep

them down. But I wasn't " guessing " about my contractions -- I had a

monitor that measured them and I modemed them to a team of nurses. If I

was over the amount I was allowed, they would have me take another pill

and re-monitor in an hour. If I was over again, I went to the hospital

(usually the second pill did the trick.) These nurses were AMAZING. I

don't know if you live in the states, but if you can, I would sign up

with them. Check with your health insurance to see if it's covered (it

was for me and it's expensive, so check.) Here's their number:

Nurses for bedrest: MATRIA 1-

They are a 24/7 service and there was many a night in the middle of the

night I was on the phone with them. I cannot say enough good about

them.

Also, Gwen's point about the drugs to keep the baby inside as long as

possible is really right -- I was scared at times about how many pills I

was taking (plus I had steroid shots to hurry along lung development)

but the doctor kept assuring me that these medications had been

thoroughly studied. And my son was born just perfect. In fact, we

could have gone home that day based on his health, if only i hadn't had

a c-section.

Best of luck. Let me know what happens.

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